swan & dolphin, anyone?

[MudQueen22]

I have only been to Disney once, in December 2014. I was pregnant, and dh and I took our dd, age 5 at the time. Dh had been to Disney before; the rest of us had not.

We stayed in the Pop Century Resort. We liked it. It was clean, and it fit our needs. No complaints.
Dh said that he has stayed at Pop Century most of the times he has been, and although it was an excellent value, he wants to try something else.

I've researched the other values and the moderates.

Can someone share your opinions on the Swan & Dolphin Hotels?

If it makes a difference, here is how we rolled on our last trip:

Up extra early on the early extended magic hour days. We got there at rope drop, using Disney transportation. We did the meal plan, but likely won't do that again--would rather just charge to credit card on the magic bands.
We scheduled our fast passes for the busy times just after noon, and went home when we got tired, usually in the early afternoon.

We thoroughly enjoyed character meals, dd liked BBB, and meet & greets, and we would do all that again. We mostly used the hotel to sleep, relax, shower, dress, and sometimes eat.
We liked the Pop's curtain between the bathroom and bed area. We liked the mini fridge and safe in the room. We didn't care for the small double beds.

Would the Swan & Dolphin be a good choice for us, or would something else be better?

Also, a price I pulled up from Disney's site said $4500 for the four of us to go in mid-March. Seems high. Is that the going rate?

 

[evilqueenmindy]

ive stayed at both, resorts are fine, couple things bugged me-
Resort fee AND a parking fee. (Both, really? You need to hit me with both?)
You couldn't charge park purchases to your room (this was pre-magic bands)

Other than this it was fine. (Oh, I also hated their pool bar.)

 

[sharona]

We loved our recent stay at the Dolphin. The location is wonderful for EP and DHS and the Boardwalk area and no different from the values and moderates for MK and AK. Rooms at the Swan have all recently been refurbished so unless you have a party of 5, I'd go for the Swan. Renovations at the Dolphin are going on now.

Re the parking and resort fees - I agree that it just comes across as greedy. The parking fee I can understand, since building it into the rate would mean that those who don't have a car would have to pay for something they are not using but... the resort fee is just annoying. Just like with airline baggage fees, you have to include the parking and/or resort fee in the nightly rate when comparing so that you are comparing apples to apples. The other thing to keep in mind re Swan/Dolphin is no ME so if you won't have a car, you need to figure transportation to/from the airport into your calculations. I did the math for us (party of 5) and it was cheaper to do 2 one way mini van rentals to/from the airport than to use a car service or a shuttle. If you use Alamo or National they have a location at the Dolphin and you can drop off and pick up the car right on site.

 

[MrInfinity]

I'll share our experience... we just stayed there last month.

The Pro's are pretty simple: location. Perhaps that count's as 3 Pro's, cuz that's really important! The bar was great too. And the playground on the beach was nice... And we had a corner balcony.

The Con's were more numerous... We weren't really wowed by this resort. We stayed in the Dolphin. It was okay, but nothing special. It felt more like a convention resort than a Disney bubble resort. There were long walks to everything. The corridors to your room were narrow and winding. The pool was cold. (December, but the Poly pool which we stayed in later was warm). The marshmallows on the beach (I expected fire pit) were just a portable grill. Huge lobby. It did not seem like a place I'd want my kids just roaming around, unlike most other Disney resorts we've stayed in. The food was not amazing or particularly attractive to kids. The buffet place was in the basement. There was a resort fee per night. They really pushed valet parking. If you wanted self-park you had to go into the back lot with a long walk.

Would I recommend it? Despite the Cons outweighing the Pros, Yes. It did it's job. Got us on Disney property for the extra day we needed for cheap. If you want walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios but don't want to spring for the Deluxes next door, go for it! We will stay there again, for sure. It's all about that location. We were so busy we didn't even get to do the mini-golf next door which just goes to show location is often so much more important than everything else.

 

[msb578]

Up extra early on the early extended magic hour days. We got there at rope drop, using Disney transportation. We did the meal plan, but likely won't do that again--would rather just charge to credit card on the magic bands.
We scheduled our fast passes for the busy times just after noon, and went home when we got tired, usually in the early afternoon.

S/D has EMH, 60-day FP+, and Disney transportation. And you don't want the dining plan (which isn't an option there). Sounds like a good fit to me

Edit: you can buy MBs, but won't be able to use them for charging

 

[gdrj]

We usually stay at Boardwalk, but stayed at Dolphin a year ago. We really enjoyed it. For us the best part is location. Being able to Boat or walk to EPCOT or HS is great. For me paying the resort fee didn't bother me (EMH's, Disney Busses, Boats, the grounds made it worth it). The parking fee seems silly to me but we didn't have a car. The Dolphin being larger, usually has a better rate and there are different rate specials at times.

 

[JacknSally]

I'll share our experience... we just stayed there last month.

The Pro's are pretty simple: location. Perhaps that count's as 3 Pro's, cuz that's really important! The bar was great too. And the playground on the beach was nice... And we had a corner balcony.

The Con's were more numerous... We weren't really wowed by this resort. We stayed in the Dolphin. It was okay, but nothing special. It felt more like a convention resort than a Disney bubble resort. There were long walks to everything. The corridors to your room were narrow and winding. The pool was cold. (December, but the Poly pool which we stayed in later was warm). The marshmallows on the beach (I expected fire pit) were just a portable grill. Huge lobby. It did not seem like a place I'd want my kids just roaming around, unlike most other Disney resorts we've stayed in. The food was not amazing or particularly attractive to kids. The buffet place was in the basement. There was a resort fee per night. They really pushed valet parking. If you wanted self-park you had to go into the back lot with a long walk.

Would I recommend it? Despite the Cons outweighing the Pros, Yes. It did it's job. Got us on Disney property for the extra day we needed for cheap. If you want walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios but don't want to spring for the Deluxes next door, go for it! We will stay there again, for sure. It's all about that location. We were so busy we didn't even get to do the mini-golf next door which just goes to show location is often so much more important than everything else.

It IS a convention hotel, though, and not a Disney bubble hotel. It's not Disney owned and operated. We self-parked in October and actually had an amazing spot, not far from the door at all. We got to the hotel at 8am on Monday and never moved our car once, though, so that may have made a difference.

We absolutely love Swalphin. Swan just finished a big reno recently, and Dolphin is slated to get one soon (possibly this year?)... I will agree with the long corridors, but find that just comes with the territory of being a large hotel. We had a corner balcony, too, which is part of the reason we had such a long walk to our room from the elevators.

 

[patty57]

I will start by saying I love the Swan and Dolphin after years of staying at BC and BW. I find tremendous value in them. I love Cabanas Pool Bar (funny that another poster mentioned hating it, but we're all different). I agree that it is a bit different than the WDW bubble, but at this point...I like that. The pool area is wonderful. I like shade, so sit in a lounger in back of the waterfall. Restaurants are very good.
As someone else mentioned, you can't charge to your MB because it is not a WDW hotel. Since those charges go on a credit card, I just pull out the credit card.
Booking the Swan and Dolphin on the WDW site is not the best pricing. Go to their site. They have AAA, nurse, teacher, AARP discounts etc. A number of their restaurants also have AAA discount. Go over to the Swan/Dolphin thread here for more info.

 

[happymommy]

To me the location is a big plus. It's also more of a hotel than motel feel (interior corridors, room service, coffee maker in the room, balcony in some rooms). I like to walk to Epcot.

I did like Pop as well, as I thought the food court was very convenient. Noisy at times, but we just took the food back to the room when we wanted some quiet.

If you are looking at the Swan or Dolphin, and didn't care for double beds, the Dolphin has double beds but the Swan has queen size ones.

The resort fee is dumb if you ask me. You don't have magical express so will have to arrange your own airport transportation (assuming you're flying). If you're driving, tack on the parking fee.

You won't get magic bands, and if you do bring yours they're really only good as tickets. They won't open the door, and they can't be used for charging purposes.

Really it's quite different than Pop. It depends on what you're looking for! I love both, but at Pop it's just me and DD.

 

[hedberg1661]

If proximity to EC and DHS is a big win for you then I would say yes stay here. If you still need the little Disney touches...you won't find them here. Unlike a pp I love the pool bar at the Dolphin and think it is one of the best on property. As another PP mentioned there are resort and parking fees. Factor those into your final price when you compare their rate to a Disney Resort.

 

[L&Lfan]

Stayed at the Dolphin in 2011. Had a wonderful time. Wouldn't hesitate to stay there again. We dine at the Dolphin's restaurants all the time.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Swan and Dolphin are awesome! I would just recommend booking with them directly as they typically have SPG and AAA discounts that are not available through the WDW site. Also, join the SPG reward program (it's free) as they will typically give you a one category upgrade. As others have mentioned, there's no ME, no magic bands and no charging back to the room. But the location can't be beat, the rooms and beds are very comfortable and the restaurants are some of the best on property IMHO (go to bluezoo!). If you have dinner in one of their restaurants, you will also get two free hours of child care at their kids club!

 

[loves to dive]

Like you I was a little hesitate about it but my son and I am going for F&G and right now they are advertising a $189 a night rate until April 15. Even with the silly room fee and parking fee for me since I drive, it beats the Epcot deluxe resorts, which is where we normally stay. Since we are going for F&G, we want to be near Epcot and we hate buses so we are going to bite the bullit and try it. We are doing a split stay with the first two nights at CBR and then 4 nights at Dolphin. We are going with the understanding that we can't charge to the room, which we don't do any way and that we will be in a more of a convention type hotel so are aware of the downfalls. Being so close to our two favorite parks and still having access to the Disney transportation, we are hoping will make up for the fact that we aren't technically in a Disney resort. From what I understand, you can still send your packages back there and since we already have multiple magic bands, we aren't missing out on much. I go twice a year, for F&G and F&W and so for at least one trip I have to budget for a little less.

 

[MudQueen22]

Thanks for the responses. I think we're going to go either back to the pop or pick a moderate.
From what you all have written, think these will be good choices when my kids are teens or college, but I like the Disney touches so much.